iAUDIO IN BENGALURU-AUDIO YATRA CONTINUES

[iaudio]

Vinay, thats a great offer. Do ask him about it.
TIA

 

[subhash]

hi titus/suri/george

missed a lot of developments , was busy setting up the mono blocks and finally set it up

if you people are staying in Bclub ,u cud schedule my place late evening on either sat/sun as its very close to the club

 

[GeorgeO]

Subhash

Why not suggest whatever time suits you best.

Late Sunday evening is a bit tough for me, since I am hosting some school buddies at my place for dinner. Why not Sat evening-I am also a member at the Bang Club I can meet up there and then we can go over to your place?

George

 

[subhash]

sat evening ,even if late is fine with me
just let me know

 

[svenkateshsmart]

Hi,

I am down with viral fever, but I think I would still make it!

 

[iaudio]

Hi,

I am down with viral fever, but I think I would still make it!

oh! Thats bad news. Get some rest n hope u recover before the trip. I am on my way to kannur, Suri's place. So first leg of yatra on its way.

 

[stevieboy]

The tubes are ready. It shall be the heerlen deltas will be doing guest of honour duties. Then a 10-15 minute break screwing up your ears with cd sound listening to the airport express and the break is also important for shutting the phonostage off and letting the tubes cool down before rolling them out for the telefunken smooth plates so you can get a taste of warmth and lively involvement versus a dose of neutrality. The problem in rolling tubes for guests is that almost always they can't make out any difference. The listening time is too short. Also the tubes need some time to warm up and start sounding decent which is about 20 minutes. So no point really. I've switched the 2A3s and 45s and almost everybody heard pretty little difference. So it shall be limited to just two tube changes. Last will roll a philips brown base GZ rectifier (prob mullard but not sure) in the SET amp so you can get a taste of how even rectifier tubes can change the sound. The current rectifier is an RCA 5V4G. Saturday evening it is!!!

 

[Rajiv]

Hi ,

Steven,what is the rectifier in the Phono stage?

Try the GZ34 or 5V4G instead of the 5Z4 .


Regards
Rajiv

 

[stevieboy]

Hi Rajiv,

It's the Brimar 5Z4G. Have tried the GZ rectifiers, the 34 and 32 in the phono, and the GZ34 in the SET amp, have got a ST shoulder shape philips GZ32 also. Right now, I'm switching between the 5V4G and 5V4GA. The brownbase GZ34 has good punch but lacks bass. Don't think I've tried the 5V4G in the phonostage though... Then there's a bunch of BEL GZ34s long tube and squat ones also which I haven't played in a while!

Btw, the 45 globes have shipped yesterday, will listen and let you know how they sound when they arrive, ought to be here around the 10th. Also picked up a spare single for $60 or so from the same guy.

Regards

 

[iaudio]

The Audio Rath reached Bangalore a little behind schedule because of the over enthusiastic rain clouds on the Kerala side of the journey. Thanks to all the Bangalore members like Santhosh, Saikat, Anil Kumar, Shreekanth, Steven for the warm welcome.

We disembarked from the Rath and availed the services of our Transporters, Santhosh and Saikat. Today listened to Santhoshs, Siva's, Stevieboys set ups.

 

[GeorgeO]

Had our friends over for a brief session yesterday, a little behind schedule. Since we were hosting a big gang of schoolmates for dinner, the audition had to be brief. In the limited time we were able to quickly listen to three systems, have some beverages and I showed them my layout. I plan to make a trip to Kannur hopefully in the not too distant future.

Mercifully I wasn't administered any knock out pills!

Cheers

George

 

[stevieboy]

I can say one thing for sure my system floored suri!

Poor fellow was so tired driving down and long day (we landed at my place around 11 in the night after siva's), Suri just slid down on the floor and caught a few zzzz's. The rest were treated to a quick round of vinyl lps.

For the reference of the chroniclers we listened to the RCA 5V4G in the SET amp first, the changed to the BEL GZ34 rectifier. The phonostage we listened to the heerlen delta 12AX7s first, then the telefuken smoothplates. No warm up time was possible since I arrived home with them, so by the time the system warmed up it was time for them to leave, all cinderellas running out the door at midnight! hyeah: I think iaudio lost his glass slipper but retained his camera so pics should be up when he gets back.

On the journey we were regaled with true tales of how to drive in Bangalore by Saikat, which he ought to compile and post here!

Missed out on the next day's proceedings cos started off a nice cold and fever.

 

[Rajiv]

Hi,

Titus,Suri looking forward to your reports,photos of your audio yatra
to B'lore.

Regards
Rajiv

 

[santhosh]

We had a great time with the trio from Kerala visiting Bangalore. There were lot of changes to the Itenary. Here is what we finally did:
Day 1
Reached Bangalore around 4PM
First the trio reached my house(since it was very close to their entry point into Bangalore), auditioned my Stereo rig along with Saikat who reached my place beforehand. Switched to my HT system and watched 5-10 minutes of Avatar.
Tried reaching Prithvi(Absolute Phase) several times on his business phone(s), but no answer. So gave the Sonus Fabers a miss.
Stevieboy joins us at Bangalore Club
Visited Siva(Corrson), listened to his system consisting of tube monoblocks and Scanspeak based speakers.
Then visited Stevieboy at 11PM. For a good one hour, Stevieboy kept spinning Vinyl and rolling tubes.
Drove back to Bangalore Club to drop off Suri and Rallynut
Iaudio and I head to my home, watched some more Avatar on my HT

Day 2
Met up with the Trio and drove down to Soundgreat's place
Auditioned Soundsgreat DIY Speakers
Visited Anilkumar and listened to his DIY Speakers, Vintage Audio gear
Auditioned Saikat's system consisting of Monitor Audio speakers driven by Musical Fidelity Class A amp
Over to ARN Systems for a listen on Emerald Physics and Ushers
Visited George and had a quick listen to his several DIY speakers

I was unable to join them on the last two auditions as I have auditioned them during the last Bangalore HFV meet and also had some guests over. But I dropped by the club later to say bye, and they brought me up to speed on what I missed.

Apologies to Gobble and Subhash, we could not visit your places due to want of time. Bangalore Traffic/Roads saw to it that we were behind schedule most of the time.

I would like to thank Siva, Sreekanth, Anil and their families for hosting us and for some excellent food that we savoured whilst at your place.

Titus,Suri looking forward to your reports,photos of your audio yatra to B'lore.

Guess Titus will post pics and listening impressions after he reaches his home town later today.

 

[stevieboy]

Spoke to iaudio just before he left to take his honest opinion and I must say he had a fair idea of what the system could do. Due to no warm up, chairs, changed furnishing in the room, some things would change but I'll wait for him to post to post my additions.

And very unfortunately just three days after the trio left, the 45 globe tubes arrived today afternoon!!!!! :licklips: Can't wait to go home!!

 

[rallynut]

@all,..before anything is put on paper in iaudio's inimitable golden 'ishhtyle' hyeah:,let me take this opportunity to thank a few people without whom this yatra/pilgrimage of sorts wouldnt have been possible.

1.iaudio,for his insatiable appetite for travel and will to audition everything in plain sight.

2.suri,for his continuing quest to make the 'best' loudspeaker on the planet,and thereby the use of his plastic box with vtec(and what a 'plastic box' it is :licklips:!!!).

3.santhol2 and saikat,absolute gems these guys,who took on driver duties/hosts and without whom this whirlwind of a yatra wouldnt have come to fruition,especially given bangalore traffic!!absolutely a pleasure to have met you both.

...santhosh,u have a seriously awesome A/V setup,not to mention ur love of autos 2 and 4 wheeled!!!

...saikat,u and ur new-age 'gyaan' amongst other things,and is being sorely missed!!!!

4.siva of corrson,soundsgreat,and anilkumar,who very graciously hosted our merry band of HFV brethren to some excellent food and music.thanks so much guys.

5.stevieboy,for letting me finally sample a tube based,all lyrita audio setup.still havent forgotten 'roadhouse blues",my friend .

6.george,for that lovely single malt,and showcasing ur NAS/squeezebox setup.u have a beautiful house btw and apologise again for the intrusion into ur planned get together.

7.sridhar of ARN systems(great guy),for ur patience and willingness to let us audition whatever we could,that too on a sunday.

phew,..all in a day's(ahem,a day nd a half precisely) work!!!

gobble,subhash,sorry we couldnt meet up.the will was there,the plans never materialised though.next time,for sure.

cheers

 

[suri]

hi forum members -

the bangalore yatra is now a memory that i cherish -

thanks to all forum members for making it possible-

without santhol2 and saikat - this yatra might not have been possible - and huge thanks to both of them - must thank the family of santhol2 and saikat's brother (who was ill with viral fever) for their patience.

they took us all around bangalore - santhol2 ripping the bangalore tarmac with his high-octane- high rpm esteem and saikat ripping apart all the uncles and aunties who came in his way.

all our hosts were very gracious and hospitable - thanks to siva and jeya of corrson audio (acoustic portrait) - stevieboy (our forum) - soundsgreat (erstwhile member of our forum) -anil and family (our forum -and apart from great speakers he makes great telescopes) - sridhar of ARN systems- and GeorgeO (our forum).

the take home message for me was - (since the group compared notes after every listening session)-

" it is very difficult to identify a loudspeaker system that has universal appeal - some do well with certain types of music (even certain cds) - on one system a certain cd might be an intolerable listen, and on the other - very grand - and this could easily reverse with different cds- i would think that (in theory -and , of course, not feasible) every person should have at least five different two-channel stereo systems - with each having different strengths".

very special thanks to my two companions on this yatra - rallynut and iaudio !
for the company and the conversation!

 

[GeorgeO]

Suri

Sage words. I am a firm believer in having 2-3 audio systems.If you guys had more time, and come earlier we could have had a bit more fun at my place, but hey, you guys seem to have had a great time anyway.

Now that I have taken delivery of a new Indica Vista Quadrajet, a trip to Kannur is a lot more likely..

George

 

[stevieboy]

Hi George,

Do count me in the trip if it's gonna be a one with us hifi nuts and not family. We could pool in to cover the petrol expenses. Am sure at least Santhol would love to go too.

I volunteer to make something special, (it's a sweet) for the trip and for our pals down South.

Regards

 

[santhosh]

You are right steven. You can count me in too George. Let us visit Suri and listen to the witches.